Running cables through Alpha Z tower...

[IDBoating]

I'm getting ready to reinstall my rearview camera and want to dress it up a bit by running the cables through the tower. Taking a quick glance, it appears that the front-facing "headlight" must be removed to route cables around the sharp corner. Is that how it's done, or is there another/better trick to snaking cables from the speaker mounting locations down to the pivot point?

Thanks!

[chpthril]

Yes, pull the front tower lamps assemblies. If you need to cross form one side of the tower to the other, remove the 2 allen bolts that hold the NAV/tow point pivot cover and this will expose a raceway to lay the cabling.

If you come down on the stbd side, you will want to remove the throttle lever in order to reach the cable as it comes through the deck from the tower foot.

[IDBoating]

If you come down on the stbd side, you will want to remove the throttle lever in order to reach the cable as it comes through the deck from the tower foot.

Bummer, I didn't want to have to pull the throttle assembly.

Will a standard electrician's fishtape work to run the cables?

[chpthril]

Bummer, I didn't want to have to pull the throttle assembly.

Will a standard electrician's fishtape work to run the cables?

Only if your fishtape takes a blue pill ahead of time. You need something long and rigid with a hook on the end that grab the end of the wire. Even through the throttle lever access, its a long reach.

[IDBoating]

Only if your fishtape takes a blue pill ahead of time. You need something long and rigid with a hook on the end that grab the end of the wire.

My fishtape is exactly as you describe, so I may give it a shot. Worst case I'll get my wife to do it, she has a knack for easily accomplishing things that frustate me.

Thanks!

[IDBoating]

All done!

I installed my camera cabling today. Actually went easier than I expected. A few tips for anyone wanting to run cables on the starboard side of an Alpha Z tower:

* The cable hole at the foot of the tower is VERY small and mostly consumed by the factory cables. I was unable to run a connector through it, and had to cut off a shielded connector and resolder it afterwards. Not a big deal, but it could have been avoided if that hole were larger. It appears there is plenty of room to at least double the hole diameter, or even provide a second hole, so I'm not sure why this isn't standard. It's clear the tiny hole is a pain even for Tige because they butt splice all the wires passing through it and the splices are RIGHT up against the floor of the foot.

* Running cables up the vertical portion of the tower is straightforward, no surprises.

* Running cables from behind the light (at the "corner" of the tower) to the little wiring holes at the inner speaker locations is a bit more challenging. Normally when running wires in tight spaces, you start at the smaller hole and work toward the larger one. When I tried that I kept running into some sort of bulkhead or casting boss inside the tower. When I finally took a chance and ran a wire coat hanger into the light opening and toward the wiring hole, it was a piece of cake. The coat hanger just slid smoothly past whatever had been hanging me up and appeared behind the speaker wiring hole. A quick grab with needle nosed pliers and presto!

* There is a surprising amount of depth behind those speaker wire holes. The camera has a short cable that terminates in an RCA connector. I expected to do some cutting and soldering there, but as it turned out I was able to simply connect a mating RCA to it. The resulting double length connector seemed too long to go inside and turn the corner toward the light hole, but it worked just fine. (Hint: I shrink-wrapped the connectors so they are both water resistant and mechanically protected against vibrating apart.)

* Running wires from the tower foot to the driver's console was the fastest part of the job. If you crawl into the footwell area, you can see back to the bottom of the tower. Tige cuts holes above the cup holders back there, so my 10YO son just reached into the hole and fed me the wires as I reached back behind the wall. Took all of 10 seconds.

Sorry, no photos of this one. We were in a rush trying to get ready for some family that arrives late this evening for a week on the water, so no time for camera work.

Hope this helps someone!